Dine Out Vancouver 2009 Jan 14th - Feb 1st

[dreamsicle]

Originally Posted by cls55coupe

^^^ sweeet .. goin there frday cant wait to have the steak

i'll be there on friday too! mmm oysters and steak =)

[kitsune]

+1 for Joe Fortes
I had the clam chowder, steak and tiger prawn, and the chocolate lava cake.
It was one of the best dine outs I've had imo.
I'm not a fan of oysters, but my friends had them and were very happy with it.. wanted more of those in fact..
Chocolate lava cake wasn't as hot as I thought it'd be, came out lukewarm, but it wasn't that sweet, so it was a big plus for me.

I had the boathouse lobsterfest 3 course as well.. that's worth going for.
I had the lobster bisque = a bit salty imo, steak with lobster thermidor, and wine instead of a dessert. It's only $34.99 pretty decent imo~

Going to West on Monday, anyone go yet? I'm wondering what to order.....
Also thinking of the Cannery.. opinions anyone? ^^

[Obsideon]

Oooh I guess the word is not out yet for Fortes. I got a spot just now

[moussy]

Not sure if you guys have ever heard of this place... but I went to Tomato Fresh Food Cafe (Broadway & Bayswater) tonight and it was wonderful. They serve all organic..for all the organic lovers out there.

Only downside is that the portions may not be enough for the guys.

Had the butternut squash tortellini - was really nice and creamy, balance of the sweet butternut and the lemon chive beurre sauce was perfect. Prawn was very big.

Entree was the beef tenderloin and with a medley of potatoes, parsnip, green beans and truffle oil... portion was quite small.. my friend tried the arctic char and I'd actually recommend getting the arctic char - bigger portion, great flavour and the basmati cake was a nice pairing to the fish.

For dessert I had the chocolate tart with earl grey ice cream. Both desserts were awesome!!! Very good in portion and both were delicious.

They didn't rush us, the service was good and the atmosphere was good. I'd def. recommend for the people who thought of trying it and wasn't sure.

8.7/10

[bbbj]

Originally Posted by cls55coupe

^^^ sweeet .. goin there frday cant wait to have the steak

goin there on friday too. haven't been there in ages hope its goood,.

[Gumby]

Wow with all the positive reviews Joe Fortes is getting, I guess I won't cheap out, and keep my reservation then! Looking forward to some kick-ass steak towards the end of the month then...

[HonestTea]

Anyone went to West yet? haha

[Leopold Stotch]

Went Gyu yesterday, chef was very nice. the place looked good but i was not fond of the manager. I had reservations for 730 and i had to wait til 8 to even get seated when people who came in after my friend and i got seated first.

Food was okay, it was a nice experience.

[f00tzilla]

Went to Diva at the met y/t
pretty damn good i'd say like 8.5/10

Had the salad, which was ok.. couple of my friends got the soup and i tried some of that and it was better than the salad
entree i had the braised beef shortrib which was pretty damn good i liked the different flavors.
dessert had the almond bar, caramel ice cream and espresso pot de creme these were all amazing!
service was attentive and great .

[carisear]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

sorry i was tired last night. lol. here's my Aqua Riva review.

service was very good. attentive and good timing. no complaints.

I ordered the scallop and prawn spring rolls. Were good, especially the salad part. The spring rolls were clearly something made in advance though and heated. Outside were more chewy than crispy. And they used a lot of black pepper that overpowered everything else.

For dinner I had the striploin with horseradish & scallion mashed potatoes and stilton & walnut jus. I ordered medium rare, but it came more on the rare side. It was also not really warm enough to my liking. Not cold, but not warm enough. But I wasn't going to send it back or anything. The wine suggestion I had was good. The mashed potatoes were okay, but not really mashed enough (there were lumps)

For dessert I had a cheesecake. It was good. Satisfied with that.

All in all, I wasn't TOO disappointed, only because the price was reasonable. You get what you pay for I suppose. But I've been here before lots of times and have had way better meals.

7/10. Maybe 7.5/10.

I had the candied salmon salad, and i loved it. my date had the springroll. i too, did not like the outside. was not crispy. Inside was as you said -- a little too much black pepper, but i found it tasty still.

I had the steak as well, medium rare. I didn'tcare for it either. The other main was the sablefish, which she said tasted 'okay'.

I had the bread pudding dessert, and liked it alot. cheesecake is cheesecake to me.

8/10 for me. everything but the entree was good.

[mako]

i got Aqua Riva for Sunday night

reviews havent been too bad so far

[TRDood]

OMG!

just came back from Joe Fortes, oh man, it was like 9.5/10
i didn't expect much from the beginning because i didn't want to get dissapointed and say "Keg was better"

after tonight, i can proudly scream "Keg is not the best (to me)"

went with my gf, reservation was for 830, got seated by 9
it was hell busy tho.

appy: oysters (nothing special)

entree: steak and prawns, steak was AWEEEEEESOME like AWEEEESOME, i would go back for it. Prawns lived up to its word.. white places call their "tiger prawns, or sea blah blah blah prawns" it always turn out that it's some safeway small shrimp. but man, Fortes used BIG prawns that you find @ asian places, not the biggest i have eaten, but pretty big. like the length of an iphone big, and 2 fingers thick. the mash potatoes were weak tho, but i was there for the steak.

dessert: meh, i don't like any kind of dessert, except icecream, so i don't have an opinion.. but i did eat half just because its $38

overall, the service was pretty good.. all the staff dressed like lab researchers tho.. with their white lab coat LOL

and it was pretty disgusting seeing the glass washing machine... they just put the used glass into the machine, and the other side comes the "cleaned" ones and they would just use them. its NEVER been rubbed, its just a conveyor belt, like those touchless carwash!!! =S

anyways, it was worth $38 and the best experience i have had in terms of "high end" restuarants. all the other experience i had with high end restaurants has been garbage, this was AWESOME!

btw, they have that steak menu for $28 starting feb3.. 3 course menu too!

[CRS]

Originally Posted by nismo_s13

i got Aqua Riva for Sunday night

reviews havent been too bad so far

I'd have to agree with Eff-1's thing.

7/10 for me

Steak was undercooked and wasn't exactly warm, the walnuts though was a nice added taste and texture. I had the couscous soup which was nothing special. Mash potatoes this time was good around for me. Cheesecake was cheesecake.

The service was really the only reason that it got the mark it did. It really wasn't anything special.

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time!]

Went to Aqua Riva friday night 7.5/10 wasn't really a spectacular place in terms of food or service, hence the 7.5

Appetizers
I had the scallop and shrimp spring rolls, unlike Eff-1 mine didn't have the strong overpowering black pepper taste and she outside of my spring roll was nice and crunchy (this was really the saving grace of the meal for me). the 2 others i was with had the salmon salad, man that salmon was almost like salmon jerky lol.

Entree
2 of us had the steak, the other had the trout. I ordered the steak medium rare, it came out more rare than i had expected. I really didn't care for the steak too much though as it came out rather tough and too chewy for my liking. The mashed potatoes that came with the steak was good though, tasted like they had sour cream in there perhaps? and the green onions mixed in were a nice touch. I liked the way the veggies were done in strips too, felt like i was eating noodles instead of veggies lol. The trout was actually quite tasty though.and wasn't over cooked

Dessert
epic small portions.. lol i had the raisin pudding and the 2 others had the white cheesecake. cheesecake was really soft and the texture was not what i was used to at all, however it lacked flavour IMO. I liked my raisin apple pudding as the flavours were much stronger and i could distinctly tell what flavours there were (apple, raisin a little bit of caramel).

Presentation & Service
Overall the presentation of the restaurant and food were pleasing to the eye. The restaurant itself had several pillars though which blocked the view of certain areas, but it had a high enough ceiling for me not to feel claustrophobic and if it were not foggy, our view by the window would've been excellent. Service however was nothing special, infact our server was never really sure which side she should serve/take from which caused her reach to be sometimes quite awkward. the service was not particularly friendly either which is what i meant by nothing special. I wouldn't mind going back here if other friends wanted to, but I would personally not take any initiative to go.

[K-Dub]

Went to Cobre this Thursday.


Open kitchen/big copper roof on the top floor...
Bottom is like a private lounge type..

This would be a kick-ass place to live..make a nice loft. Studio in the bottom, bedroom/living room/kitchen up top.

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visi...ils.php?id=696

The following was typed up at like 2am and copied from my facebook..so if it reads a bit funny to you, I'm sorry. I'm also not a real foodie, so...yea. Anyways, enjoy pictures.

Although portions are small (well it is tapas style, and I'm going to guess that it's also because of DOV), the food is definitely huge on flavour.

Service wise..the host/my server was very....snobby. Had this whole attitude thing going on all night, barely smiled, had his nose up the whole time.. a very big turn off for the restaurant. I understand that it's DOV, and it's busy, and it sucks, but you should still put a presentable and friendly face on to your paying customers. The other servers were nice.

The place, well. It's very cozy. The decoration seems very mismatched, a whole slew of styles. Western, modern, industrial...The table we sat at was kind of awkward, it was shaped like a leaf.

1.

Pulled duck taco
charred scallion y roasted garlic

So full of flavour, so tender...mm good.


Patagonia battered Baja rockfish taco
chipotle ajo aioli

Crispey fish tacos. Hmmm....not very much wow like the duck taco.

Didn't get a picture of the 3rd one,
"Roasted Poblano y Oaxacan queso fresco taco
nugget potato y sunchoke".

2.

Pan roasted BC sable fish
peruvian olive roasted poblano causa, patacones y chimichurri

The fish didn't taste cooked in the very middle, it was still a little soft. Somehow, I don't think that's intentional, but it was still good. Only had one bite of the fish, and half of the plantain on the bottom. Around it was.. like pesto, but made with cilantro instead.




Vaca asada, char grilled flat iron steak
tijuana baby caesar y chorizo buttermilk mash

So drool worthy. Thin slices of steak, over two small leaves of romaine lettuce, caesar style, on top of a mashed potatoes..I didn't taste the chorizo though.

This was probably the most food on one plate compared to the others.

I didn't get a picture of the 3rd entree,
"Wild Mexican sea prawns y pipian verde
butter browned corn arepas". Oops.

3.



Goats milk vanilla bean cheese cake
roasted hazelnut argentinian alfajores, lemon curd

A very smooth and dense cheesecake, you can definitely taste the goats milk. Separated by I think a piece of shortbread..one side had lemon curd, and the other with crushed hazelnuts.

Perfect combination with the lemon curd.


Ancho chili chocolate pecan brownie
horchata white chocolate ganache, cinnamon stewed banana

Nutty brownie. It wasn't as spicy as I expected/wanted it to be, but you get a tinge of it.


Dulce de leche, caramelized pineapple, tamarind butterscotch
espresso churro

CHURROS. Seriously, I love churros yum.
Dulce de leche is..well to me, it's basically soft melty caramel. Yummy. Take a bit of it with the above cheesecake, and it's 10x better. Caramelized pineapples on top, but you can't really taste it since the leche is so strong.

One last thing bout the desserts, I love that they put a gooseberry on each, it really helps to accentuate flavours since it opposes the sweetness with it's tartness/sourness.

[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by kitsune

I had the boathouse lobsterfest 3 course as well.. that's worth going for.
I had the lobster bisque = a bit salty imo, steak with lobster thermidor, and wine instead of a dessert. It's only $34.99 pretty decent imo~

You can find a coupon for this in the Georgia Straight, and if you go between Monday to Thursday, you can get this for $24.99.

[Durrann1984]

^^ Cobre

The first dish for pulled duck taco...i think they use the wrong plate, theres so much space around the tacos lol

anyone try la terrazza im trying it out next week

[red_2]

holy! the Cobre restaurant looks soooo yummmy!!

that duck taco looks killer

[LongDongSilver]

Originally Posted by Obsideon

Oooh I guess the word is not out yet for Fortes. I got a spot just now

Buddy's dad is one of the owners of Fortes, it's pretty slick.

[LongDongSilver]

Cobre doesn't look like food, it looks like fucking art on a plate.

LAME

[macatacz]

Cobre looks delicious!

[RacePace]

Originally Posted by LongDongSilver

Cobre doesn't look like food, it looks like fucking art on a plate.

LAME

welcome to fine dining

[LongDongSilver]

Originally Posted by Illuminate

welcome to fine dining

Excuse me? Read the thread, I'm sure I dine out at fine dining establishments way more than you do.

I hate places that put tiny pieces of food, doll it all up on your plate, and serve it to you and charge you out the wazoo for it though.

[Ducky]

Had dinner at Parkside last night, and even during DineOut Parkside has yet to disappoint me. Too lazy to go into much detail...we had the following:

-A bottle of D’ Arenberg Custodian Grenache 2005, a very easy drinking red wine. The same bottle I always order at Parkside, but I believe previously it was an '02.

Appetizers:
-Clear tomato minestrone, goat cheese ravioli: Good portion, nice and light. You could def. taste the goat cheese.
-Gulf prawns, orange, fennel, pork cheek bacon, black olive: Okay but portion was too small.

Mains:
-Saddle of rabbit, mushroom duxelles, petit pois, Parmesan sauce: Extremely tender and flavorful, it was parmesan foam rather than sauce and worked perfectly with the rabbit.
-36 hour low temperature short rib, horseradish pomme purée, Yorkshire pudding, onion rings, beef jus: Good dish.

Dessert
-Lemon tart brûlée: Nothing much I can say other than a good lemon tart.
-Sorbets: blood orange & campari, mango & basil, yogurt & vanilla: All were good but our favorite but the yogurt & vanilla.

We were there for almost 3 hours, we did not feel rushed and the service was attentive and courteous.

[Euro7r]

Originally Posted by Gumby

Hmm, good point. After taxes & 15% tip, it's already up to $90+. I think I'll cancel my reservation and do something else.


Hahaha just looked at Hon's - my god 2 people could eat there for $18, INCLUDING tax & tip!

Hahaha, good choice. I don't get why the hell would people pay that much for food and they'll most likely shit it out within 24hours. That's a really expensive shit.